Frank Chikane to speak at SU theology conference

Dr Frank Chikane, President of the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) and former director-general in the Presidency, will be the keynote speaker at 09h:30 at a conference at the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University (SU) on Wednesday (6 June).
The conference, to be known as a Winter School, will be held for the first time. Themed My Story – Our Story – The Story, the Winter School takes place from 5-7 June, and is hosted jointly by the Faculty’s Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, Ekklesia and Communitas.
As a service arm of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), Communitas assists pastors and churches with their work. Ekklesia is an ecumenical service center of the Faculty that invites churches and other organizations to join a “network pool” that offers coordinated services to churches and other role players.
According to Dr Danie O’Kennedy of Ekklesia, the hosts of the new Winter School project want to help strengthen ties between different churches, and contribute to the quest for unity, reconciliation and justice in South Africa.
“During this conference Christians from different backgrounds will share their stories with one another in light of the biblical story,” he adds.
Among the topics to be discussed, are the world in which we live our stories (from a scientific, economic and an African perspective); church unity; and spirituality and identity.
Other speakers at the Winter School include Prof Eugene Cloete, Dean of the Faculty of Science at SU; Father Peter-John Pearson, Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town and Director of the Catholic Bishops’ Parliamentary Liaison Office; Prof Stephan Joubert, Extraordinary Professor in New Testament at Pretoria University and editor of e-kerk; and Rev Peter Grove, Assessor of the Cape Synod of the URCSA.

Prof Nico Koopman, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, says the Winter School “will unlock the potential of communities of faith to build social cohesion, social solidarity and social capital, and will also strengthen theological reflection as an ecumenical activity”.

• Contact Helette van der Westhuizen on 021 808 3250 or e-mail hvdwest@sun.ac.za for more information about the Winter School. Access the programme here.